"Sis, come on. Aren't you ready yet?" a little boy's voice called from outside my door.

"I'm almost ready. You can come in if you want." I called back. I was standing in front of my full mirror applying some cover up to hide any flaws in my face like zits, bags under my eye, or something when I heard the door of my bedroom open.

"Ew, what stinks?" I heard him ask as he covered his mouth.

"It's incense, and it doesn't stink." I said.

"It shouldn't take you this long to get ready. You didn't take this long last year or the year before so why are you taking so long this year? You're going to make us late." my little brother complained. I found that he complained too much. It was cute when it was the first few times but now it was just a pain in the butt.

"I just want to look nice okay. I'm almost none." I said as I turned around to put my cover up down and picked up some lip gloss. I heard my brother groan and fall on my bed.

"You…are…taking…for…ever." I listened as I heard small thuds. I looked passed myself to him and saw that he had took one of my pillows and started to slam it down on his face. He got that from me. Every time I'm frustrated or something like that, I hit my head with something or on something.

"I told you I'm almost done. Besides the festival doesn't start until six and it is only five fifteen so stop complaining." I said switching the lip gloss for my light blue eye shadow. I knew no one would probably notice, especially in the dark, but I put it on anyway. I heard my brother groan again.

"Just be patient, geez." I said closing my closet door. I went to sit on my bed and grabbed my shoes that I wouldn't be caught dead in if it weren't for this stupid dress that I had to where.

"Raven, are you done yet?" I heard him mumble through the pillow that had stopped pounding his face and now just laid there over his whole head.

"Carlos, I swear if you don't stop bugging me…" I yelled cutting off because I knew I couldn't do anything to hurt him. Unfortunately he knew too. He was pretty smart for an eight year old.

"Or what? You can't do anything to me." Carlos taunted.

"You wanna bet twerp," I yelled and jumped off of the bed the second I finished putting on my shoes. Carlos made an "uh oh" sound and darted off of my bed and out my room.

"Come back here you little brat!" I yelled as chased him down the hall and into the living room, which was pretty hard considering I was in a dress. You know the ones that the pilgrims whore, yes the black ones. Anyway, the whole time I chased him, he screamed for our mom to save him. I followed him into the kitchen but stopped when I say my mom standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Raven what have I told you about chasing your brother." she said with a serious tone.

"But mom, he-" I tried to explain but got cut off again.

"No I don't want to hear it. Grab your purse and let's go, your father's already over there. I'll talk to you when we get home." she said. I groaned and did what she asked.

Five minutes later we arrived at the festival. It looked so cool. Just like the real thing. As we entered I read a sign that said "Welcome to the Salem Festival". When we got in the scenery looked so authentic, just like it should have looked back in old time Salem. I couldn't help but smile even though I was in the ugliest dress on the face of the earth. But it was either wear this and come along or wear whatever I wanted and didn't come at all. So I put the dress on and came. But I wouldn't if it wasn't for someone who was going to be here.

"Raven, keep an eye on your brother will you?" My mom asked.

"But mama-" I complained but once again got cut off.

"I need you to do this for me and your dad. We have to work and can't keep an eye on him. Please do this for us." my mom begged.

"Fine, but you're going to keep an eye on my purse." I said handing her my purse and then she walked toward the booth that my dad was pathetically trying to put up. I looked down at my brother who looked at me and gave me a mysterious grin.

"Don't even think about it brat." I said in an aggravated manner.

"Think about what. About how you wanted to be all alone with that dude, what's his name again? Sousuke was it, isn't he that Japanese dude." Carlos said.

"How did you find out?!" I yelled in shock. I knew my face had to be red from embracement.

" I read your diary." Carlos said and dug out the little journal where I would write of my supposed to be secret crush. I had forgotten that I had stashed it under my pillow after I wrote in it every other night or so. I knew that my face had to have gotten redder because I started to see red. I snatched the journal back and put it in my pocket of my dress.

"If you ever talk about this to ANYONE, I will personally give you a wedgy so big you won't be able to sit for a month." I said coldly taking his hand and led him toward the different booths.

Have I told you how aggravating my brother is? I swear the whole time we walked around he bugged me for everything that we passed by. But I would always have something to say for a comeback.

"Can I have a hot dog?" Carlos asked.

"You ate before we left." I said dully.

"Can you win me a stuffed animal?" he continued to bug.

"You have tons at home." I said in the same voice.

"Well can I have some money to play?" he asked. I could tell he was getting aggravated.

"Mom gave you some money before we left." I said, again in the same tone of voice.

"But I forgot it." he whined. I was going to tell him something when I saw him. I stopped walking but my brother didn't so he almost fell backward when my arm didn't go any further.

"Hey! Why'ja stop?" Carlos asked agitatedly. I gave a frustrated sigh and ripped m eyes off the angel that was just ten feet away in front of us. I acted like I hadn't seen him because if I gave the slightest hint, Carlos would have wanted to drag me over to the guy that I had a huge crush on and embrace me to death.

"Fine. Here's ten dollars. Now quit bugging me." I said, shoving my hand in my dress pocket and thrusted the money out into his smaller ones when I had located it. Almost immediately Carlos snatched the money out of my hand yelling a "thanks" and ran off without another word.

Well that worked out well, but now what do I do? I couldn't just walk up to him and start talking. He might think I'm a freak or something. And I couldn't just not do something. I had just got my pesky little brother away from me. My feet started moving like they had a mind of their own. Or is he moving toward me? I felt like the air around me had abandoned me because my heart was pounding in my chest so fast and my head was feeling light, which made me feel a little dizzy. I was a little disappointed when he took a quick glance at me. But hey, the guy probably doesn't even know who I am. That is until I heard his voice.

"Hey, you're Raven right. Raven Tabahn?" I hear the guy that I have had a crush on for so long said behind me. Once again my breath caught and my heart pounds so hard and fast in my chest that I thought it would burst thought the top of my rib cage. Slowly I turn to him and nodded my head when I was facing him.

"Yep," I say, well actually squeaked. I could have died when I heard my voice go up that high. That was something that I didn't when I got nervous. Almost immediately I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Yeah that's my name. You're Sousuke right?" I said, thankfully without my voice getting that high again. I could still feel my face burn with embarrassment. I thanked God for creating night time and at the same time thanked Thomas Edison for inventing the light bulb. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be able to see Sousuke's Japanese eyes, black springy hair, those muscles that he packed under that stupid outfit that we had to where if we were working at some point tonight, or his tanned skin that looked flawless even up close.

"Yeah, I've seen you around school huh?" Sousuke said, his voice sending shivers down my spine. I nodded my head sheepishly. Then no one said anything. The silence made me uneasy but his eyes were just so captivating that I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and said my good-bye to him, a little angry with myself for not saying what I felt, but then again was over run with joy that Sousuke had finally, FINALLY talked to me. Yeah I know mood swings. But wasn't a girl to do. But I felt I had to do something to tell him and I made a promise to myself that I would gather my courage to tell him a month before this stupid festival and now seemed like the perfect time to tell. So I took a deep breath to calm my nerves a little and said "hey Sousuke, wait". Well that got his attention and he stopped and turned back around to me and said "yeah".

"Um...could you meet me by the pond behind the festival in an hour if you're free, okay? I...I have something I want to tell you." I said, my whole face felt like it was going to burn off.

"Sure, see you there." Sousuke said, his Japanese accent coming out of his mouth clearly. When I saw him disappear out of sight behind one of the booths, I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. Well step one was complete. Now let's see if I can actually stay true to my word that I would meet him. And the word to my self that I would finally tell him after about six months of bottled up emotions.